Irkens Don't Forgive
by AgentPoltergeist
Summary: Sequel to Irkens Don't Feel Love! When Zyx and Ryx, two deranged Irken siblings bent on the assassination of the Almighty Tallest, come to Earth, hijinks and horror ensue...ZATR,DAKR
1. The IIMI

What's up, guys? You read my first lame fanfic, so it's time for another! In this story, Zim and the gang will discover that the most terrible things are even worse in twos…R&R please! Enjoy.

Chapter 1: The IIMI

The lone Irken girl sat in her bleak, cold cell deep within the bowels of the Irken Institute for the Mentally Insane, or the IIMI, as it was called. She glanced at her brother in the chamber next to her, who was wrapped in a strait jacket, staring at the floor and muttering incomprehensibly under his breath. She wasn't in a strait jacket, but handcuffs bound her wrists tightly to the metal bench she sat on.

The girl hated this place with every particle of her being. She had been locked up there for three years after being caught with her brother on one of her deranged rampages against the Tallest. They were going to just put them both out, but after studying their behavior the Irken police force decided that the siblings were simply psychotic. So they were both locked up in here, away from the world, in tiny, cramped cells that smelled of dust and vomit, where they could no longer make any progress towards their life goal: destroying the Almighty Tallest.

The siblings thought of themselves as assassins, bent on the demise of the twisted, sadistic rulers of this planet. But nobody seemed to appreciate the service they thought they were doing. Rather, their aim had landed them in places like this all throughout their lives. But each time, they had escaped somehow. Each time, they just disappeared one night without a trace, out to wreak havoc on the Tallests' empire and all who supported it once again. All the escapes had been completely silent and undetectable.

But not this one. They had planned, beforehand, what they would do if they ever got caught right before they launched their bid for Irk's freedom. It was time to put that plan into action.

The Irken caught her brother's eye through the glass. They both nodded, and the boy mouthed, "Now."

The girl immediately started wailing and screaming as though she was being tortured. One of the guards came in through the door to see what was wrong. That was his fatal mistake.

She swung a spindly leg as hard as she could and connected with the guard's skull. Dazed and hurting, he produced a laser gun from his belt and fired. But his aim was off, and he vaporized the chains binding the Irken to her bench. She pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. She stole a knife off his belt and slit his throat. It was all over in thirty seconds. The girl ripped the card key from off the guard's neck and ran to her brother's cell. She entered and began slicing his strait jacket off with the bloody knife.

"What are you going to do with the body?" inquired the boy in his rough, snarling voice.

The girl replied in her smooth, cold voice, "Leave it there. It will likely symbolize what happens to those who get in our way. It will make them afraid. And if they are afraid…so much the better."

"Excellent notion, sister."

"Thank you. Now, let's find our PAKs."

The two bolted from the room and down the hallway. Their soft-soled black boots made no noise against the linoleum floor. They passed unnoticed. At last, they came to a large door that required a card key. The girl produced the one she had stolen off the guard and entered silently with her brother.

In the enormous room was row after row, column after column of PAKs. There must have been thousands, in so many different colors and shapes. The girl could see a letter in Irken at the top of every shelf. She realized that the PAKs were in alphabetical order. She ran to the very end of the room and searched through the selection. Finally, she came across an electric green one. She opened the top compartment, and a tiny screen came out. It said,

**Name: **Zyx

**Sex: **F

**Occupation: **Serial killer

**Current Location: **IIMI

Zyx smiled in satisfaction. She pressed a button on the side, and several thin metal arms produced a number of fiendish-looking tools: a switchblade, a corkscrew, a carving knife, a syringe with bright blue liquid inside…

Suddenly, red lights were flashing overhead and an alarm was sounding. Her brother was pounding towards her, screaming, "ZYX! I set off the alarm! RUN!"

Her heart pounding, she fastened the PAK to her back and ran for the door, only to be blocked by a crowd of guards coming to catch them. She called out to her brother, "Ryx! Try to blast a hole in the wall or something! I'll keep them busy!"

Ryx bolted for the other end of the room. Zyx whirled around, glaring at the guards. She pulled out the large knife from her PAK and brandished it at them. They simply laughed. What use was a knife against deadly laser guns? But Zyx was in her element now. She dodged the rays of plasma and jumped toward a shelf. But instead of climbing up it, she kicked off of the side, did a flip in midair, and landed smack in the middle of the guards.

Screams pierced the air and echoed around the huge room. Emerald blood was flung like paint against the walls and floor. In two minutes, every guard was dead. Zyx stood in the middle of them, blood dripping from the tools in her PAK and the knife in her hand.

Then, there was a huge explosion from the other end of the room. Zyx ran over, and found a gaping hole in the wall and Ryx grinning fiendishly.

"I knew it was a good idea to save those grenades," he said smugly.

"Now, let's get out of here. I'm sure they're sending backup."

The two snuck through the hole, only to find that there was only the tiniest bit of metal ledge to walk on. Tentatively, they crept onto it, inching forward. Below them, a dark angry sea was ready to drown them if they fell. Behind them, they heard the next round of guards coming to look for them. Frantically, Zyx pulled out a screen that summoned their Voot cruiser. She pushed the button, and after a few moments, an acid green and black vehicle flew up to the ledge. Zyx pushed the button to open the cockpit, and they both jumped in just as the guards sprinted toward the hole. The green-tinted glass closed and protected them from the lasers being fired.

In unison, the siblings cackled evilly. "Well, brother," said Zyx, "We finally got to escape with a bang!"

"Yes, sister," agreed Ryx, leering. "However, I think we had better lay low for a spell. After this incident, there will be so many moneys on our heads that we won't be able to come within a lightyear of Irk for ages."

"True, true. Perhaps we should seek refuge on some other planet?"

"Perhaps. In the meantime, let's just enjoy our freedom until we find a place to stay…a place where they haven't heard of us yet. Now, how about some music?"

Grinning, Zyx turned a knob on the dashboard and music filled the vehicle.

_And it's so easy when you're evil,_

_This is the life you see, the Devil tips his hat to me,_

_I do it all because I'm evil,_

_And I do it all for free._

_Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need._

Shrieking with laughter, the two siblings and partners in crime zoomed through the stars, off to some foreign planet that would never know what hit it.

**Author's Note: **The song lyrics are from Voltaire's 'When You're Evil'. Great song, look it up. It fits them. Muahaha 8}

BTW today's my 14th Birthday! I made myself a story for my bday! :DDD


	2. Another Reunion

Thanks for the reviews HannahGee13, Zim'sMostLoyalServant, That One Random Kid, and cppa111. Here's chapter 2!

Chapter 2: Another Reunion

Five figures were making their way through the forest near their town, talking amongst themselves. At the front of the group was Zim, wearing his typical Irken invader uniform, black wig, and and contact lenses. At his side was Tak, another Irken in a much more convincing disguise that looked perfectly human, consisting of a purple turtleneck, skinny jeans and deep blue hair in a jagged bob. Behind Tak was Dib, wearing his signature trench coat and blue tee-shirt. Walking with him was Kezzi, another Irken and Tak's twin sister, with a flawless disguise of a Three Days Grace tee, baggy black jeans and shoulder-length black hair. Trailing behind them, immersed in her GameSlave as usual, with a black sweatshirt and cargo pants, was Dib's younger sister Gaz. They were all in their freshman year of Hi Skool, except Gaz, who was just entering seventh grade at the middle skool.

The group moseyed down the forest trail. The subject they talked about varied constantly. Zim said, "I don't understand the point of these so-called _tests_ in skool. Reciting memorized information is hardly the best judge of someone's I.Q."

Dib replied, "It's not their I.Q. they're testing, it's how well you learned what they had been trying to teach you. Intelligence doesn't really have much to do with it."

"Well, _that_ makes sense," Zim snorted. "If these tests factored in intelligence, surely every human would fail."

"You–"

"Okay, break it up," Kezzi said, as the two rivals lunged at each other."Can't you guys go one day without a fight?"

They both grumbled something under their breath, glaring at each other. Kezzi rolled her eyes and went to walk with Tak.

"You're wasting your breath," Tak said. "I know Zim. He'll never stop trying to fight him."

Kezzi sighed. "I know. Why are guys always so aggressive, though?"

"Oh, they're just showing off for us," Tak said, grinning.

Kezzi laughed and was about to reply when she saw a flying metallic object out of the corner of her eye. She squinted at it as it zoomed across the sky. Why did it look vaguely familiar? "Tak," she said, "What's that?"

By then everyone but Gaz had looked up to see the flying thing. Tak said, "Is that a Voot cruiser?"

Suddenly, the cruiser rocketed towards them. They all screamed and dove out of the way as the craft touched down on the Earth's surface and skidded a few feet before coming to a stop.

Slowly, tentatively, the group crept up and looked at the vehicle before them. It had a mostly black chassis, with green-tinted glass and acid green rockets. It was in the model of Tak's cruiser, so it had to be Irken. Then, without warning, Zim leapt forward and shouted, "Attention, fellow Irkens! You are on the property of Zim! Zim shall destroy this planet alone! If you want it, come out here and fight me!"

After a moment, the cockpit opened and two of the strangest-looking Irkens the five had ever seen appeared. They appeared to be twins, but they were male and female. They both wore Irken clothing similar to Tak's, only they were all black. The girl had dark green eyes and long antennae that drooped down backwards and had scythe-like shaped tips. The boy had black eyes and the same antennae, only instead of drooping they reached forward and fell in front of his face. They both had black face paint in the design of a fang under each eye and they each wore a fiendish grin and a manic look in their eye. Everybody but Kezzi and Tak looked confused. They both looked shocked, staring back and forth between the two Irkens. Finally Kezzi said, rather rudely, "What are _you_ doing here?" Tak groaned, "Oh, Miyuki. Not them. Anyone but them…"

They both raised invisible eyebrows. "Do we know you?" the girl asked.

"Do you know them?" Dib asked Kezzi.

Kezzi gave a humorless laugh. "All too well." Then, Kezzi deactivated her disguise, revealing her to be what she truly was-a silver eyed Irken in a black-and-grey tunic with jagged antennae. Both the strange Irkens' mouths fell open. "K-Kezzi?" the girl spluttered.

"Woah, woah, woah…" Zim said, trying to make sense of the scene unfolding in front of him. Then the male Irken ran forward and gave Kezzi a huge hug.

Kezzi started blushing and stuttering. "R-Ryx! Stop! Let me go!"

She broke free of his grasp, but he held onto her hand. "Oh, no," he teased. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily."

"Ryx, I mean it. I beat the crap out of you once, I can do it again. _Let go._"

Reluctantly, he let go of her hand. They both looked at a completely bewildered audience. "Uh…you're probably all wondering who these guys are…"

Three heads nodded in agreement. Kezzi gulped and said, "Well, um. This is Zyx, an old friend of mine," she gestured to the girl, "And this," she said, nodding toward the boy, "Is Ryx, my ex-boyfriend."

The only sound was of birds chirping in the trees towering above them. After a moment, Dib broke the stunned silence and said, "Ex-boyfriend? You never said anything about an–"

Kezzi cut him off. "Because I'm really trying my hardest to forget about when we were dating," she spat, shooting Ryx a malicious glare. He just gave a crooked smirk.

"What happened?" Zim asked curiously.

Kezzi groaned. "I was about 135 years old when I started dating Ryx. Everything was just fine for about 5 years, and then Tak went missing. Just when I was feeling that Ryx was the only one who cared for me, we went to his house after a date and he tried to kill me. I beat him half to death with a ham and ran away to find Tak."

She looked around. "But I guess I should have beaten him all the way to death, because here he is."

Everyone looked at Ryx. His grin was starting to look a bit unsettling as he relived the memory. "Ah, happy times…"

He began giggling in a creepy way. The group began to edge away from the apparently not-quite-sane alien, and then he suddenly became serious. "It's very lucky though, that Sister happened to land us here. Because, Kezzi, now I can reclaim you!"

"NO WAY!" Dib yelled. Everyone looked at him. His ears felt like two furnaces, and he stammered, "Uh…well, I…"

Ryx's eyes narrowed, and slowly, menacingly, he walked up to Dib and leaned in his face. Zipper-teeth bared, he growled, "What…did you just say?"

"Uh…" Dib felt himself crumbling under the intensity of his gaze. Nevertheless, he clenched his fists and said, "Well, um, Kezzi's already, uh, seeing someone else, so…"

Ryx's lip curled. "And this…other someone…wouldn't just so happen to be you…_would it now?"_

Dib gulped and said, "If it is?"

In a flash, mechanical arms shot out of Ryx's PAK and held a number of deadly devices up to Dib's gut, throat, and eyes: a butcher knife, several saw blades in different sizes and shapes, nails and needles, an electric drill, and a corkscrew. Ryx , grinning horribly, whispered, "A scrawny little scrap of Earth-meat like you…oh, how I'd enjoy eliminating the competition, no trouble at all…"

Dib made a funny rasping noise and Kezzi screamed, "RYX! LEAVE HIM ALONE, OR I WILL RIP OUT YOUR PAK AND PERSONALLY SHOVE IT UP YOUR-"

"Okay, okay," Ryx said, as his tools retracted back into his PAK. With a steely glint in his eye, he said to Dib, "I would think twice about getting too close to Kezzi, though, if I were you. Who knows…one day my PAK may just…malfunction, and injure the person nearest me quite gravely…"

Dib edged away from the Irken slowly. Kezzi, in a desperate attempt to change the subject, asked, "Uh, Zyx. Where did you and Ryx come from? How did you get to Earth all of a sudden?"

"An interesting story, actually. See, we were both locked up in the IIMI."

"The IIMI?" Tak blurted.

"What's the IIMI?" asked Dib.

Tak explained, "The Irken Institute for the Mentally Insane. It's the largest, tightest asylum on the planet. They only send total lunatics there."

"What did you do to get shut away in that place?" asked Zim.

Zyx and Ryx gave identical devious grins. "Oh, that was our shining hour, brother! I'll never forget it."

"Agreed, sister. It was a fine achievement for our endeavors. You see," Ryx explained, "Our goal in life is to destroy the reign of the Almighty Tallest."

"WHAT!" Zim shouted.

"Oh, yes," Zyx cackled. "Have you never given a second thought as to how the Tallest treat their inferiors? They think of us all as scum. Short scum. We mean little to them. That stuff they say about everyone being citizens that make them proud? It's all an act. We are nothing in their eyes. They just carry on with their destruction, while they use us to do their bidding. They cheat. They play dirty. And they lie."

Fixing her gaze on Zim, she said, "You, of all Irkens, should know that. Have you any idea how much of a joke you are to them?"

"LIES!" screeched Zim. "The Tallest respect me! They respect all their loyal subjects! I know I am…a Defective…"

He swallowed, then continued, "But I am still loyal to the Irken Empire! Just because I do not agree with the Tallest' views on emotions and such, does not mean I am wavering in my allegiance!"

"Shut up a minute, Zim," Tak said. "You guys still haven't explained exactly what you did to get thrown in an asylum."

"Oh, yes…" Zyx said quietly. "Well… the gist of it is, we boarded the Massive and attacked a few drones. It was the closest we have ever come to a real victory."

"Do you think they will ever find the bodies, sister?" asked Ryx.

"Of course not. We stuffed them in an airlock. Even if they were found, they wouldn't be recognizable as Irkens…"

The twins began screaming with laughter. Again, everyone started backing away from the two as they realized exactly the degree of insanity they had reached. The twins, only fifteen Irk-years old, were murderers. When they caught their breath, Zyx said, "Yes, we managed to slice up a few drones, but we got caught eventually, and they had us thrown in the IIMI. We stayed there for about three months. In a normal institution, we could have escaped in a matter of hours, but this was not a normal institution. The security is extremely high and it's surrounded by a huge lake. Almost nobody has ever escaped from there. We had to…take drastic measures, and kill a few guards. We ordinarily don't like killing right before we escape from someplace-"

"It leaves a big mess for others to clean up," Ryx cut in.

Zyx snickered. "Yeah. But we managed to break out in the end, and we landed on the first planet we came across. So, here we are."

"Uh, Kezzi…" Dib walked up to the silver-eyes Irken and said, "Can I talk to you privately for a moment? Tak, too."

Kezzi and Tak walked with Dib to the other side of the trail. Dib hissed, "What are you guys going to do about them? They obviously can't stay with us. Where will they go?"

Kezzi grimaced. "I know. Their minds are gone. Honestly, I'm amazed they were put in the IIMI just that recently. But we can't just leave them to fend for themselves."

"Look, Kezzi," Dib said. "They aren't a pair of cuddly puppies. They're a pair of insane, sharp-object wielding, assassin puppies. They will be just fine without us."

"On the other hand," Tak argued, "They really have no idea how things work on Earth. They'd go on one of their psycho rampages and get caught, and then the police would figure out that they aren't human, and then they'd be strapped to a table and dissected. They don't have much chance."

Dib was silent. She had a point. Kezzi said, "Look. Maybe I can get through to them, because I know them well. I can tell them that they can stay here, but they have to behave themselves, and maybe things will turn out okay. It's just until they're ready to move on."

Dib grumbled his half-hearted consent, and they all went to where the others were standing. "Um, Zyx? Ryx?" Kezzi said.

"Yes?" The two replied in unison.

"Um, we've decided that you two can stay on Earth for awhile, until you're ready to hit the road. But you guys have to wear disguises and not be insane, and generally act like normal human beings. Do you think you can manage that?"

The twins smiled. "We already have disguises all set up," Zyx said. They both pressed a button on the device clamped on their heads, and their appearance changed completely. Zyx now had an acid-green and black outfit, with fishnet sleeves and tights, and knee-high boots like Tak's. In the place of antennae was shoulder-length stringy black hair. Her skin was almost pure white, and her eyes were acid green like her clothes. She wore lots of black eyeliner and bright green eye shadow.

Ryx looked very much like his sister-the only differences were that his hair was cut mostly short, and was stringy and black as well, but had two antenna-like chunks of hair spiking upwards and falling in front of his pale face, like two scythes. His eyes were pitch black, and he wore black eyeliner and eye shadow. His outfit was exactly the same as Zyx's.

The group gaped at them in their bizarre disguises. When Kezzi had said, 'normal human beings' this was not at all what she had in mind. Nevertheless, she said, "Well, it's not exactly ordinary, but it passes for human, right?"

Zyx giggled evilly. "Excellent…now we can blend in with the planet, and cause plenty of trouble!"

"Splendid, sister," Ryx said. "Well? It's a whole new world, no? Let's go see what we can mess with!"

The twin's cackles echoed across the forest as they bolted down the trail. Everyone looked at Kezzi and Tak with raised eyebrows and skeptical expressions. "Look," said Tak. "It's just for a little while. I'll see to it that they don't cause too much trouble or kill anyone or anything like that."

Dib sighed and said, "Tak, I _really_ hope you and Kezzi know what you're doing…"

"Relax," Kezzi said. "We've got it all under control."

They all walked down the trail after the twins. Gaz, still immersed in Vampire Piggy Slayer, muttered under her breath, "Just when I thought my life couldn't get any more insane…"


	3. Arrive With A Bang

I AM SORRY! I AM SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO FREAKIN' LONG! I hate 8th grade. I hate it so much that I will gnaw out its intestines and use them as my jump rope. And I will laugh while doing so. I. WILL. LAUGH.

Sorry if that little intro disturbed you. I'm Horribly Insane like that. Thanks for the reviews. Enjoy.

Chapter 3: Arrive With A Bang

"Don't startle Ryx, don't ever try to hold Zyx's hand, and if they have AP Chemistry, for the love of Miyuki, _do not _let either of them near anything that can poison someone or explode. Got all that?"

Kezzi was at her base, drilling Zim, Dib, and Tak on the countless rules she had come up with to keep Zyx and Ryx under control. Dib was frantically jotting down everything she said onto a pencil and paper while Zim recorded all the information and downloaded it into his PAK. Zim never missed a chance to flaunt his superior technology in the face of his arch rival.

Dib stopped writing to stretch his hand out. "Anything else?"

Kezzi thought for a moment and said, "No, I think that's about the basics."

"The basics!" Zim yelped, pulling a screen out of his PAK. "Do you realize how many gigabytes that recording just took up?"

"Thank your lucky stars I didn't go in-depth," Kezzi replied, grabbing her black backpack, which was sitting on the kitchen table, and swung it over her shoulder. She called out, "Zyx! Ryx! Time to go!"

After a moment, they heard a big commotion upstairs, which was growing constantly louder. Then a scream, "GOOOOO!"

Everyone immediately scrambled to get as far away from the staircase as possible. Within ten seconds, a whirlwind of green and black was at the top of the stairs. A tall, spindly figure–Ryx–leaped onto the stair railing and skated down it smoothly, while Zyx was still at the top. Assisted by the spider-legs in her PAK, she propelled herself six feet in the air and toward the dining room directly below her. In a long graceful parabola, she fell toward the floor and stuck a perfect landing just after Ryx touched down. They each struck a pose with their PAK legs showing off their multiple deadly weapons, and then they fell over screaming with laughter. After they finished their hysterics, Zyx stood up and said, wiping the tears from her neon green eyes, "Oh, we've wanted to do that for years! We could never find a proper staircase, though!"

After a bit, Dib asked, "Uh…what was that all about?"

Ryx replied, "Oh, Sister and I just love making an entrance. It's a compulsion of ours."

Tak said, "Well, then you'll be able to make quite an entrance at the Hi Skool. Come on, we'll be late."

With that, they all seized their bookbags, including Ryx and Zyx, who had bought skool supplies Sunday, and headed out the door.

The friends were walking down the sidewalk. Kezzi said to the deranged twins, "Guys, you are going to have to behave yourselves if you want to stay here. That means no stabbing, no poisoning, no exploding, no burning, no torturing, no nothing. Okay?"

"Geez, you're no fun anymore," Ryx whined, but Kezzi ignored him and kept walking. Within five minutes or so they ran into Gaz with her ever-present handheld. Ryx strolled up to her and said, "You're Gaz, aren't you? Kezzi told me how she beat you down in the cafeteria, which was apparently no small feat. How did she beat you, exactly?"

Gaz looked up and glared at him. "Pressure point to the upper thigh with a broom handle. It pinches the femoral artery."

"Fascinating," Ryx said. "Are all humans' weak points so exposed?"

Gaz's eyes narrowed menacingly. "If she hadn't got a hold of that broom I would have broken every one of her limbs," she snarled.

Ryx raised his eyebrows, impressed. "I could get along with this kid," he said.

Finally, after dropping Gaz off at the Middle Skool, the group arrived at the Hi Skool. It was much the same as the Elementary Skool Zim had attended when he first came to Earth, with it's boring structure and foreboding, unfriendly atmosphere, but much larger. Wads of teens were clumped around the skool doors, giggling, shouting, and shoving each other around. However, an odd hush came over the students when the six friends made their way through the entrance. Most eyes were on Zyx and Ryx, who were dressed in the same disguises they had brought that weekend. People stared and whispered. Soon a large boy in a football jersey lumbered over to them. "Hey look! The Freak Circus got two new members!"

Several students started laughing. Zyx and Ryx exchanged confused glances. They didn't know what he meant by 'Freak Circus'. The boy leaned over in his Ryx's face. "What the hell is up with your hair, man? You look like a friggin' praying mantis!"

Emboldened by the boy's rudeness, other teens started making snide comments.

"Jesus, they need some sun and some conditioner."

"Look at what they're wearing! They're like from another century or something!"

"Check out the eyeliner and fishnets. I can barely tell he's a dude."

Completely clueless, Zyx asked, "What are these humans talking about?"

Tak shook her head and said, "Let's just get moving. We've attracted too much attention as it is."

The six walked into the building as the skool bell rang, signaling the start of the day.

Once inside, Zyx asked, "What was that? They seemed to find us very amusing."

Tak sighed. "This place is absolutely crawling with scum like that boy. They were making fun of you alright? _Don't even think about it,_" she snapped as Ryx glowered and began fishing through his PAK for a knife.

"Hey! What–" Ryx blurted. "Where are all my weapons? My knives and bombs? They're all gone!"

Kezzi nodded. "You'd never be allowed in the building loaded up with weapons like that. You'd be expelled. I emptied out your PAK while you slept. Zyx, too. You can have them back when you get home."

Ryx crossed his arms and pouted. Suddenly, an older woman with curly mouse-brown hair scooted up to them. "Excuse me, are you two new students here?"

Kezzi had gone over this scenario with the twins multiple times. Zyx had learned her lines by heart. "Yes we are, ma'am," she said in a bright, perky voice that everyone instantly hated. "We don't have any schedules or maps yet. Could you help us, please?"

The woman gave a fake-looking smile. "Of course, dear. If you will both just follow me…"

They walked away with the woman down the hall. "Tak said worriedly, "Will she be okay?"

Zim replied, "Of course. They practiced for ages. They'll figure it out."

Tak chuckled. "I was talking about that woman."

Before Zim could reply, the bell rang for first period. Everyone began rushing this way and that to get to class. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later," Dib said. Zim and Tak nodded, and he went off with Kezzi to his Literature class. Zim and Tak had AP Chemistry for first period. Tak said "Well. This should be interesting."

Zim smiled and the two went off to class.

"Therefore, if you combine the sodium with water, it will produce a violent chemical reaction to form a hydrogen gas. Now, we are going to begin a new lab today…"

Zim's eyelids drooped over his chemistry textbook as he tried to focus on the lesson. Mr. Drudger, the AP Chemistry teacher, was infamous for being probably the most boring teacher the Hi Skool had ever seen. The only reason Zim and Tak hadn't flunked out of the class yet was that, as Irkens trained to be invaders, they had an obligation to find out whatever they could about the planet. Zim found chemistry to be particularly crucial, as he could someday use his knowledge to poison all of mankind. He was startled out of his doze by a knock at the door. Mr. Drudger looked up and went to answer it. The same woman he had seen earlier who had taken Zyx and Ryx away was standing there. Mr. Drudger spoke to her for a bit, eventually having to whisper because half the class was leaning in to listen. Eventually he turned around and said to everyone, "Class, it appears we have some sudden new students. Please welcome…"

Zim and Tak groaned. Sure enough, Zyx and Ryx waltzed into the classroom, grinning and looking around eagerly. "Hello, everyone," Zyx called out. "My name is Zyx LeStrange, and this is my brother Ryx. I'm sure we'll all be the best of friends!"

Everyone just gaped at them in their outlandish clothes, hair, and overall manner. Zim wondered where the heck they had gotten the last name LeStrange from. On the other hand, it definitely fit them. "Take your seats, you two," Mr. Drudger ordered.

"Now, as I was saying, today we are going to begin a lab testing the effects of different substances on alkali metals. Alkali metals, as you know are highly reactive and occasionally dangerous. You won't be in any danger if you handle these metals correctly. Could you all please be taking notes?"

Ryx had beaten Mr. Drudger to it; as soon as he heard the words 'highly reactive', he whipped out a notepad and began jotting down everything the teacher was saying. Tak started to get nervous. Really nervous. "Ryx loves explosive things," she whispered to Zim, "and Zyx likes poisoning people. We can't let them out of our sight."

Zim raised his hand. "Mr. Drudger, since the sibling-creatures are new here, I would be happy to share my amazing wisdom with them and let them be in our group."

Mr. Drudger mulled it over for a second and said, "Sure, fine."

Zyx and Ryx skipped over to the two at their table, "Hello, Zim and Tak," Zyx sang. "Didn't we do a fantastic job? The humans don't suspect a thing!"

Tak said, "They might not suspect you, but they still think you're both freaks. Where did the name LeStrange come from?"

Ryx replied, "Oh, it's just something Kezzi pulled out of a book last night. She said we'd need last names to enroll here."

This was true; Zim, Tak, and Kezzi had submitted fake last names to that administration so they could continue skool. Tak just sighed and said, "Well, let's get started on the lab."

At that moment Mr. Drudger came up and said, handing them a small bag of silvery metal and a beaker of water, "Put the potassium in the water and observe what reactions take place. I'll come back around in five minutes and give you a new metal. Potassium is very unstable, so be careful."

Ryx was grinning in a very unsettling way. Tak growled, "If you step one toe out of line in here, I swear…"

Ryx replied in a sniveling voice, "Oh, don't worry your pretty little head about me, Tak. Don't you trust me?"

"Not in the least."

"A very wise choice, very wise indeed."

Tak rolled her eyes and sliced off a bit of potassium. Slowly, she dropped it into the water. At once the water began fizzing violently, and an invisible gas came off the surface. The siblings were enthralled. "Oooooh!" squealed Zyx, bouncing up and down in her seat. Zim and Tak recorded all of this in their lab books and the twins copied them. After a minute, Ryx said, "I think it would be safest if I washed my hands before any further experimentation," and slid out of his seat and strolled over to the sink in the back of the room. Tak raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why does he need to wash his hands before an experiment where we aren't handling any animals?" Zim shrugged. Right then, Mr. Drudger walked over to their table and said, "Time to switch. Give me the remaining potassium."

"Yes, sir," Tak said, reaching for the chunk of metal. But when she looked down, the metal was gone. "Zim? Did you do anything with it?"

"No."They both began searching around their binders and books and under the table, but it was nowhere to be found. All at once, something occurred to Tak, and her squeedilyspooch sank clear to the bottom of her toes. She whirled around to see Ryx at the back of the room, with the lump of potassium, pulling a lighter out of his pocket.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zim and Tak screamed in unison, but it was too late. Ryx touched the fire to the metal. Just as the lump caught fire, a force field sprang out of his PAK and shielded him as the potassium exploded.

Complete chaos erupted in the classroom. Students ran this way and that, screaming and falling over, breaking glasses and spilling chemicals everywhere. The chemicals and metals caught fire, fizzed, and sparked, making everyone scatter like roaches. Then, Zim and Tak heard the unmistakable beeping and wailing of the fire alarm. "EVERYBODY OUT! STRAIGHT LINE, STAY CALM!" Mr. Drudger roared.

Everyone filed out of the classroom, yelling and panicking. Soon they were outside, along with the rest of the skool. Tak, Zim, and Zyx had stayed at the back of the line, and as soon as they had their chance they nipped back into the building to find Ryx.

He was standing in the deserted hallway, laughing like a lunatic. Between his cackles he said, "Now THAT'S what I call highly reactive!"

Tak and Zyx grabbed him arms and dragged him out of the building. As they bolted across the parking lot, a man with a megaphone was shouting, "Ryx LeStrange, report to the principal at the meeting place in the football field!"

"Oh no," Zim said, scooting in front of Ryx so the man wouldn't see him. "They're looking for you. We've got to get out of here, now. Where is Kezzi and the Dib-thing?"

"I dunno…" Tak said, but then a shout came from behind.

"Hey!"

Everyone turned to see Dib and Kezzi running toward them. When they reached them, Dib said, all out of breath, "It was them, wasn't it?"

"Actually, it was just Ryx," Zyx said, "But now's no time for finger pointing. They're looking for him now. We can't stay here."

Zim nodded. Then, he pointed to the fence bordering the skool. "Let's hop the fence."

"But we can't just leave!" Kezzi said. "How will we explain being gone when the rest of the skool goes back inside?"

"We can deal with that later," Zim snapped, "Let's just split while we can!"

Everyone darted for the fence and climbed over it. Right when they got over the fence, a fire truck roared into the parking lot. They group had to dive behind some bushes to avoid being seen. "Great," Kezzi muttered, spitting a leaf out her mouth, "Ryx would have been in enough trouble if we hadn't ditched, but now we'll all get suspended."

"Well, there wasn't much choice," Dib said. "If he had been caught, the administration would have looked into the background of both Ryx and Zyx, and they'd find out that those names are fake, and they'd want to go to his house and talk with their parents, but they don't have any, and goodness knows where it would go from there. They might even look at your backgrounds, just because you're friends with them. You all could get taken away and dissected."

There was a silence. Everyone knew Dib was right. But nobody said anything, and just kept crawling through the bushes. When they were off skool grounds, they stood up and dusted themselves off. Then, without warning, Zyx smacked Ryx so hard he went cross-eyed. "What the flyin'…" Ryx began, but his sister cut him off.

"What _were _you thinking, just blowing up some metal like that! You could have gotten us killed! I mean, I enjoy a bit of chaos as much as the next person, but really, there's a time and a place for everything! You almost completely blew our cover! I'm of a good mind to just head back to Irk and just strand you here!"

She continued screaming for another couple of minutes. When she finally finished she was breathing heavily. She said to the rest of the group, "So…now what?"

"Zim shrugged. "Go home, I guess. You're staying with the Kezzi, correct?"

Zyx nodded and turned to Ryx. "Come on. You sure aren't setting foot in this place again. Let's move it."

As they all walked home, Dib sighed and shook his head. He said to Kezzi, "Remember when you fought Gaz in the cafeteria on your first day here?"

Kezzi grinned. "Only too well."

Dib shook his head again. "Judging from that day and today, you Irkens sure know how to arrive with a bang."

Kezzi groaned.


	4. The Hunters

Okay, contrary to popular belief, I am not dead, in a coma, or in juvie, but with summer getting started these are all subject to change. I am so incredibly sorry this chapter took so long. I had a rough 2nd semester and writing was not foremost on my mind, but now I've got the whole summer to finish this fic! I might not be writing much once school starts up again (I'm starting Hi Skool haha) but for now I'll write as much as possible. Also, maybe you should go back and read the first two chapters because I've made some changes in the twins' description. Okay, super long author's note over. Read the stupid fic.

Chapter 4: The Hunters

Every time he closed his eyes, he still saw the flashing of the cameras and the crowds of reporters. Even when it was silent, he still heard the torrents of angry, accusing questions they asked, shoving microphones in his face, demanding an answer, an explanation, anything that would clear the haze surrounding the biggest prison break scandal Irk had ever seen.

All he wanted was for it to be over. He wanted those sick, twisted aberrations out of his life and gone forever. He had spent so many years trying to contain them, to keep them locked away, but to no avail. Every time, they had escaped. Every time he thought he was rid of them forever, they broke out of prison and back into his life, like they were walking through the doors, suitcases in hand. _Hey there, it's us! Couldn't bear to stay away! How've you been?_

What truly infuriated him was that _nobody was supposed to know they even existed._ They had been born Defectives, but when the doctors attempted surgery, it went just about as horribly wrong as surgery can go. Not only were they freakish on the outside, what with the bizarre stitch-like scars criss-crossing their heads and torsos, they were completely insane. And not the convenient kind of insane that can simply be wrapped up in a strait jacket and locked in a rubber room. They had just the worst balance of sanity and madness that made them lethal. The insanity made their motives just demented enough, and the sanity made them just capable enough of carrying them out. This kind of thing just couldn't surface to the public. The original plan was to have them killed and be done with it, but they fought back. As tiny smeets, they killed the hospital staff and learned frighteningly fast how to survive on their own. They escaped and had been wreaking havoc on Irk ever since.

Zyx and Ryx. He _hated_ them. They were even more of a disgrace to Irk than _Zim._ Just saying the out of control Irken's name made him retch, but the twins…they were even worse. Under his rule, these monsters had been born and their infamy spread across the planet. Not only were they deadly to Irk, they made him feel like a failure.

Suddenly, the door to his lounge slid open. "Hey, Red," said a high, fluting voice.

Red looked around from the back of his chair at his co-ruler. "Mmuuuuh," he said, and smacked his head heavily on the small, round restaurant-style table in front of him. "Tough day, huh?" asked Purple.

"You should know," Red grumbled, clenching his fists to the top of his head. "You were there the whole time."

"Hey, don't think this isn't stressful for me, too. Your problem's my problem. So," Purple said, flopping down in the chair across from Red, "Have you got any leads so far?"

"None," Red said grumpily. "I've got the best tracker drones and state-of-the-art radar systems that can reach across whole galaxies, and there isn't a sign of them. I'm doing all I can, but…" he gave an exhausted sigh and laid his head on his arms. Purple said, "I've been sending out search parties since the moment we got the news. It's not looking like they're in this galaxy. The searchers are moving to the Andromeda galaxy next. Have you searched Vort? Or maybe Hobo 13?"

"The radar scanned all over both of them. Nothing." Distractedly, he signaled for a waiter to bring them some drinks. Within a moment, a squat Irken with a tray on his head handed them two tall glasses of fizzy, violently orange liquid. They sipped at their drinks and thought deeply. It looks as though they may have finally given us the slip for good, Red mused. But maybe it's better that way. They're some other planet's problem now…

But it just doesn't work that way, he thought angrily. You can't just allow escaped criminals to run amok, whether it's on your planet or not. He and Purple would be sued, impeached, any number of things. They had to find them. And then, Red got a tiny inkling of an idea.

"Hey, Purple," he said. The violet-eyed Irken looked up from his soda. "Hm?"

"I was wondering," Red said casually, "How have the Hunters been doing?"

Purple's eyes got huge. "You…You aren't actually thinking…"

"Yes, I am," Red said firmly.

Purple started trembling. "Y-You can't. The last time we used them…we were sued for billions…I mean, sure, they found the guy, but not before destroying, like, _five_ planets and ruining Foodcourtia's economy…It was chaos for months! Nobody is worth the Hunters! Nobody!"

"Except them," Red growled, staring into the eyes of his co-ruler. "Do you realize what will happen to us if we don't find those twins? It might not just mean the end of our rule. We could be executed if they start attacking other planets! There could be war! The Irken Empire could fall! _Everything_ is at stake here. I'm willing to do absolutely anything it takes to get those maniacs back here. And when we do, we will kill them and be done with it. If it costs a few planets and a few billion monies, then that's the price we'll pay."

Purple was silent. Neither spoke for a few moments until Purple said quietly, "Let's go get them."

They got up from their table and walked out the door and down the hallway. They stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall and Red pushed the button to go to the bottom floor. As they dropped down further and further into the bowels of the Massive, Purple asked, "Is this really a good idea? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?"

"Anything is better than letting the twins escape. If we catch them, it will all be worth it, I'm sure."

Purple stared uncertainly at his feet. After a moment, the steel doors to the elevator slid open to reveal a totally white room that looked like a lab of some kind. The two Irkens slowly stepped onto the snow white floor. The aura surrounding the room was extremely powerful. They could both sense the serious danger that lie within it. Red walked forward and said to Purple, "Come on."

They strode forward towards the end of the room, which had a huge wall made of cold gray metal. To one side was a small keypad. Red punched in a long password and pushed a green button on the pad. The wall creaked and groaned, and split down the middle before sliding apart with an eerie hiss. What the wall revealed was an enormous tank filled with bright blue liquid. And in the liquid…

"The Hunters," Purple whispered hoarsely.

It was true. They were ten Irkens, all exactly the same, because they were engineered to be so. They wore pure white tunics with matching boots and gloves. There was no design to their antennae; they were simply straight lines jutting out from their heads. They had very pale green skin, nearly the color of mint. They were each attached to the bottom of the tank by a tube connecting to their stomachs, like unborn babies connected to an umbilical cord. The Hunters were very weak, very pale. And they were terrifying. Even the Tallest themselves couldn't help but feel an illogical but complete revulsion towards these creatures. Purple looked at Red and said, "There has to be something else, some other way…"

Red slowly shook his head. "This is our only option. It's this, or Zyx and Ryx go free."

Purple looked uncertainly at a glowing red button just below the tank. Its light pulsed silently as he looked between Red and the Hunters.

"Well?" asked Red, staring Purple down. "What will we do?"

Purple looked at the glowing button. Defeated, he reached down and pushed it. There was a robotic buzz, which abruptly shut off with another hiss. Then, all at once, each Hunter in the tank opened their snow-white eyes.

"Greetings, Master. We are the Hunters. It is an honor to serve you."


End file.
